Gifted

Helmsdale

If there were any doubts about his ferocity as a warrior after having fallen in love, they were thoroughly dispelled by the first battle. If anything, Magnus was more brutally efficient than ever at cutting through the enemy. He was motivated to mow through them and get back to his wife as soon as possible.

Inge's forces were put to rout in a matter of weeks. It helped that the so-called leader had internal battles to fight among his own people. Jamie Campbell also helped. He surprised Magnus by mustering two vessels full of Campbell men to fight alongside the Sinclairs. They helped mostly with land fights and keeping the home fort defended but the Sinclair sons had the fights out at sea more than handled.

Alina ended up having her way about him taking most of his forces up to Helmsdale with him. She agreed to four soldiers guarding her but, come morning, she recruited the MacLellan laird to convince him to take the rest. The old laird would return to Kerr castle with a group of his men and defend the keep until Magnus got home. He said it would give his sons a chance to run their clan without him for a while.

Magnus felt her absence the way one would a missing limb. It didn't hurt but he knew he wasn't whole without her. Whenever he was back at Helmsdale to regroup, he'd read and re-read her letters before trying to go to sleep. She gave him two on the afternoon he left and promised to send Alec with two more when his brother departed the following day. Since then, he'd received a letter a week from her, four in all so far.

Her first letters were all about the holidays they'd spent together, detailing how she was enjoying her various presents and thanking him for his thoughtfulness and generosity. She was particularly pleased with the large pockets sewn into every bliaut. Subsequent letters were more about the everyday goings on at Glenkerrloch. Mairi was coming over once a week to have Elizabeth teach her to read. Alina herself had neither the patience nor the focus for teaching. Greek studies were coming along but Lady Lillian still despaired of Alina's French. Her mind was a marvel to him. Her most recent letter shared an amusing anecdote about Bean and her massive dogs.

Magnus surveyed the long hall as he folded her letters and put them inside his coat. The timber hall was impressive in its own way but it was an austere space built for men who spent a great deal of their time in battle. They led such different lives. His family ruled their clan but life was hard for everyone up here. These highlands were beautiful but harsh. There were no lush fields or grand clifftop castles. Their village was fortified behind massive timber palisades and they lived off pastured livestock and the bounty of sea.

Jamie joined him on the dais with a tankard of mead. Midday meal had already been served and the tables were being cleared but there was always drink to pour. Magnus reluctantly handed him a slip of paper. Mairi traced her first letters on it. It simply wrote out their initials with a little heart in between: MSC x JC. It was a frivolous waste of paper but Alina included it with her letter to Magnus. Jamie grinned like a fool.

He said, "She's a fast learner, my Mairi, eh?"

Magnus debated mentioning that she'd merely traced the letters but decided to keep his silence.

"So, do ye figure we'll be going home soon?" Jamie asked. "That last battle was pretty decisively in our favor."

"Rolf and Alec should be meeting with Inge now," Magnus replied. "Depending on what Inge concedes, this truce may last the year. Inge needs to focus resources on his fights at home."

"Ye don't think ye'll have peace longer than that?" Jamie asked.

"Maybe two or three years," replied Magnus. "The longest we'd gone was five. But there's always something: they'd raid our shores or we'd steal their women. We always got fighting again before long."

"I was too afraid tae ask when I was here last," said Jamie. "But where are yer women? Other than Mairi, I saw precious few of them here last year and there seem even fewer now."

Magnus said, "Men outnumber women everywhere."

Jamie looked around the half-empty hall. There were three serving women and the rest were men scattered around the tables.

"But it seems like it's two men tae one woman here," he said. "Don't say that's how it is for all these highlands?"

Magnus shrugged. Alina had encouraged him to talk more with people she considered family. He didn't necessarily agree that Jamie was family but this was probably something Jamie would eventually need to know.

Magnus said, "It's worse here compared tae other clans. Twenty years ago, a fever swept the village and killed nearly half our women. It affected men, too, but most were gone off in battle. They came back after the fever had already run its course. It started a superstition and women have been reluctant tae marry intae our clan ever since."

Jamie knitted his brows. "Mairi mentioned something about this but I didn't ken it was so bad."

Magnus said, "She was only two when it happened and got sick with it herself."

He paused. "Did she tell ye about what that might mean for the two of ye?"

Jamie nodded. "When I asked her tae elope with me, she told me that she might not be able tae have bairns. She said one of yer half-sisters survived the fever, too, but she's been married for years now without any children."

Magnus was surprised.

He asked, "And ye still married her?"

Jamie countered, "Would it have stopped ye marrying Alina?"

Magnus didn't need to answer. They both knew it wouldn't have.

"My brothers can be my heirs," Jamie said with a shrug. "I love yer sister. I'd love tae have children with her but we're a family with or without them. Besides, we have our hands full with those five hellions at home."

Maybe Jamie wasn't such a pillock after all.

A horn signaled someone was approaching the fortified walls of the village.

Jamie looked confused. "Yer brothers can't be back yet, can they?"

Magnus shook his head slowly. Instinct was telling him something his mind had a hard time accepting. If what he suspected was true, he was going to be simultaneously horrified, furious and elated.

He and Jamie exited the long hall and made their way up to the wall-walk along the top of the timber fortifications. They saw a group of a dozen people outside the walls and they included Laird Campbell, Mairi and Alina. Magnus also saw the four soldiers he'd left to guard Alina. They looked very uneasy. Good. Because he was going to kill them.